Description:
Explores the history of Spain's most iconic art museum. Highlights the political history of the museum's relation to the monarchy, the church, and the liberal nation state, as well as its role as an extension of Madrid's social center, the Prado Promenade.
Brief description: Eugenia Afinoguénova is Professor of Spanish and Spanish Culture at Marquette University. She is the co-editor of Spain Is (Still) Different: Tourism and Discourse in Spanish Identity and the author of El idiota superviviente: Artes y letras españolas frente a la "muerte del hombre," 1969-1990.
Review Quotes:
"This book is much more than a history of the Prado Museum. Afinoguénova's brilliant perception is that the history of the museum can be understood only by situating it in the context of the evolving recreational activities and, increasingly, street politics that took place in the Prado Promenade outside its walls. A fascinating contribution to the history of leisure that shows its imbrication with politics, class, and gender."
--Jo Labanyi, author of Gender and Modernization in the Spanish Realist Novel